Recently, I met the family of a patient who had been diagnosed with cancer in Gwangju and traveled to a large hospital in Seoul. The treatment itself was difficult, but the family also had to bear transportation costs, lodging expenses, the burden of caregiving, and the need to take time off work. Fighting the disease alone is already overwhelming for patients and their families, yet they were carrying an additional burden simply because they lived outside the capital.
Such cases are no longer unusual. In reality, the health gap between regions is significant. The treatable mortality rate—deaths that could have been prevented with appropriate medical services—stands at about 40 per 100,000 people in Seoul, while in South Jeolla Province it is higher at 49. According to an analysis by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the social cost arising from regional patients traveling to Seoul for treatment amounts to 4.6 trillion won annually.
The bigger problem is that the medical gap is directly linked to regional decline. People do not settle in a place based on jobs alone. To raise children and care for their parents, they need a healthcare system they can trust. The belief that one can be treated locally when ill is a core condition for settlement, no less important than education, housing, and jobs.
The government's "5 Poles, 3 Special Zones" national balanced development strategy also stems from this awareness. The vision is to connect the talent, industry, and educational capabilities scattered across regions, creating a foundation for regions to grow on their own. Healthcare cannot be left out of this picture.
In that respect, the recently announced comprehensive development direction for national university hospitals is highly timely. This policy carries great significance in that it approaches the regional healthcare crisis not as the problem of individual hospitals but from the perspective of national balanced development.
The government has presented a vision to nurture national university hospitals not as mere treatment facilities but as core regional institutions performing clinical, research, educational, and public policy functions. This reflects an accurate understanding of the essence of university hospitals. The competitiveness of a university hospital is not created through treatment alone. Excellent medical personnel gather where research and education are active. When research and education advance, talented personnel gather, and that capability in turn leads to improved quality of patient care.
I also strongly agree with the direction of building a cooperative system among regional medical institutions centered on national university hospitals. With national university hospitals at the center, regional medical institutions and specialists must be connected, and a cooperative system that takes 24-hour responsibility for essential care must be established. Limited medical resources must be used from the perspective of cooperation rather than competition in order to create a regionally self-sufficient healthcare system.
However, for the government's blueprint to take root successfully, the problem of aging infrastructure at national university hospitals must be addressed. Many national university hospitals are using buildings that are more than 40 years old, which limits their ability to respond to advanced medicine and digital healthcare environments. Chonnam National University Hospital is currently preparing a new construction aimed at building a future-oriented smart hospital. This is a national investment on the scale of a century-long plan, going beyond the simple construction of a new hospital building to consolidate future medical technology, research, and educational functions. Full support is needed so that national university hospitals can equip themselves with infrastructure befitting their role.
National university hospitals themselves must also change. No matter how good a policy is, it cannot be completed through the government's efforts alone. They must cooperate more closely with regional medical institutions and fulfill their role as final treatment institutions that local residents can trust.
This comprehensive development direction for national university hospitals is an important starting point in preparing for the future of regional communities. If the government, national university hospitals, and local communities join forces, they can create a new turning point that revives regional healthcare and realizes national balanced development. The transformation of national university hospitals means the transformation of regions, and the transformation of regions will become the force that changes the future of Korea.
